Into The Stars
by crystallica81
Summary: She wanted freedom from her small world, to get away from her nagging family, to see the forbidden things that were supposed to be kept secret from her. He wanted to stop hurting others with his mistakes, and hold onto a relationship that actually lasted. She belonged to the sea, and he belonged to the stars, but they have a boundless love that no distance can rule over.
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter One_

_Jim_

I cannot believe this is happening again. It's not my fault, it's not. Solar surfing is my passion. I can't stop doing it, no matter how many pink slips I get stating that one more fault will give me a one way ticket to juvenile hall. And yes, it is true that I am fifteen and really need a scholarship out of the Interstellar Academy in Montressor to help my mom with the Benbow Inn that she owns. She needs it; it's not exactly thriving. And my "getting in trouble" phase is not helping.

I sigh and run my hands against my hair. The cruel waves lap against the sand, and the moonlight drowns everything and turns everything the color of pure silver.

I wish everything would just fade away. My life has become nothing, useless, pointless. Just a dirty dishrag used to wipe up spills, thrown away afterward. I'm just a boy, not even a man. But I'm expected to act like one, even though I'm not. Because the man in my life—my dad—left when I was eight.

I'm alone.

A wind howls in my ear but I ignore it. My pain has become evident to me now and I realize how upsetted I've become. How upsetted I've let myself become.

I grab a stone from the pebbly shore next to me and hurl it as far away as I can. It splashes into the water and makes a tiny wave that merges with the big ones coming in from far out.

"Jim!" My mom hangs out of her upper window, her long straight brown hair hanging out.

I glance up at her and pick up another stone, squeezing it in between my fingers. She disappears for an instant and in a few seconds she's out the front door, made her way down the narrow wooden walk and is standing next to me on the sandy slope I'm sitting at.

She reaches down and touches my arm. "What are you doing?" she asks me quietly.

I stare out at the bleak horizon. "Sitting. And watching."

"Watching what, Jim?"

I glare and throw the stone again. It lands even farther than the last one. "That's not important, Mom."

"No, it's not," she agrees. "What is important are all the pink slips piling up in your room like dirty plates in my sink. Do you want to go to juvenile hall, is that what it is?"

I ball my fingers into fists. "Why don't you just leave me alone."

Mom sighs. "Jim, what have I done wrong? What did I do to make you like this? Every time I speak to you it's like I'm talking to a stranger!"

I close his eyes. "I just want to be alone. So if you'd go away it'd be most helpful."

"Jim!" Mom pleads. "I don't want you to throw away your entire future with this...vulgar...solar surfing."

She speaks it like it's a curse word.

"I can't give it up," I say softly. "You...can't...make...me."

Mom's blue eyes narrow. "Why not? And why can't I?"

"Why do you want me to?" I snap. "What's the problem with it?!"

"The pink slips!" Mom exclaims. "You just don't get it, do you? Your whole future is just dying away, Jim. It's become empty. It's become nothing. To fix that, all you have to do is stop being rebellious and stop solar surfing. And doing what you do."

I scowl. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Mom gets up and leaves, slapping her hands against her skirts. She's angry. But so am I. I'm angrier. I hurl a third stone so hard it disappears into the horizon.

She's gone, and minutes later, the light in her room blinks out and the window shuts, too.

I sigh. Great. So now I'm the bad guy. How come I always end up being shunned because of my solar surfing?

What was that she said?

Stop doing what you do.

I grit my teeth. This is ridiculous. Outrageous. Messed up. A boatload of crap.

As I pick up a fourth stone—I know, weird, but this is how I get my frustration out—I notice a slight bobbing amidst the waves. A flash of silver.

Then I turn again and see more silver to the sides. I move closer to the sealine. I notice more and more of them.

What the heck are they?

I pause. There was singing. Singing?!

It was soft and seductive and somewhat evil. I stared at the bobbing shapes. Suddenly, they emerged. They were women. Women that looked like ghosts with glowing eyes. They sang and smiled and danced, weaving through the water, their empty bodies flashing with moonlight.

One of them grabs my arm. I reel back, trying to step away as I was already knee-deep in water. They were kissing me all over my face, hugging me, bringing me farther and farther into the water. I wanted to cry out, let go and just run back to the beach, but I couldn't. I just couldn't.

I didn't want to.

I just let the women get all over me, these empty spirits, touching me, kissing me, pulling me deeper into the water.

One minute I was above, liking all the attention, then the next minute I was under the water, paddling and struggling to stay above. They were pulling me deeper and deeper in, farther and farther and farther until I began to think I was dying.

Mom...

I took a slow breath and suddenly water whooshed into my lungs. My eyes popped wide open. Their watery fluid hands never left my elbows, singing, laughing, dancing, weaving through the bubbles that issues from my lips and pulling me farther down...down...down...

Suddenly, a pair of solid arms grabbed me around my middle and started to swim upward. What the heck?

I began to feel like I was fading. My mind was a swirling labyrinth of memories and thoughts and questions.

I go upward, higher and higher until my head burst above water. I coughed up about a gallon of seawater and I paddled weakly towards the beach—but I didn't need to.

Someone grabs my arm and yanks me towards the sand until I flop onto it, spluttering and trying to locate my savior somewhere amidst the confusion meddling amidst in my brain.

I look up and see a girl with a cloud of bloodred hair all the way down to her back. That's barely what I can see. Vivid flame red hair, and blue eyes I think. And...where the heck were her legs? Her face and arms and hair were dripping with water and she looked concerned. She smoothed back my bangs and began to sing. And not like the strange silver ghost ladies in the water.

Beautifully. A sparkling melody.

I look up at her and then my eyes close.


	2. Into The Stars Chapter 2

_Chapter Two_

_Ariel_

They were just drowning him.

My sisters from the sea, pulling him down, deeper and deeper without mercy, loving him, kissing him, killing him.

I had to stop them. I dove in between them and began to drag the boy away. I had no idea what his name even was, but I knew I couldn't let him die. I felt a strange connection to him. Weirdly.

And so here I was, sitting on the beach, staring at his legs. Human legs. How, I loved human legs. The way they had tiny toes at the end of them, knobbles at the middle called "knees." I loved every bit about it.

I wished for legs so badly.

I lie there staring at the boy, smoothing back his bangs.

He had dark brown bangs stretching all the way around his head, while the rest of his head was shaved. He had gray-blue eyes and a gold hoop piercing in his left ear. His eyes were closed and he was shuddering, coughing up water and breathing hard, but I liked him.

I watch as he stirs a little bit and his eyes open a fraction of a bit. His eyelashes bat a couple of times and his eyeballs stop to focus on me. I gasp, and then back up a tiny bit, then I gulp in seawater and disappear down below.

How can I breathe underwater, you ask?

No, I'm not your ordinary fifteen year old girl. I'm...a mermaid.

I wake up to have sunlight streaming down in a narrow shaft through the top of the waves. I'm lying there and I wake up to see all of my sisters goggling down at me.

"What the—" I goggle back up at them. My oldest sister, the proper Attina, who can't even eat dinner without making small talk with my uppity father, glares down at me.

"You're murmuring."

"So?"

Attina's eyes narrow down to tiny blue slits. "So? Whaddaya mean 'so?' Murmuring in your sleep about your true love."

This angers me. "Was not!"

Attina tilts her head. "Oooookaay, so you weren't talking about true love exactly. You were talking about a guy, though. A guy on the beach? Who almost died?"

My other sister Arista gasps. "Brown hair? Black t-shirt? No way!"

I watch her. "Arista, you were on siren duty yesterday?"

Arista slaps her palm to her forehead, her blonde ponytail swishing behind her, she sits on the clam bed next to me. "You're the one that saved him, Ariel? But why? We need the souls to keep us going!"

I sigh and bury my face into my hands. "I know, Arista. But I felt like he wasn't meant to die. He has a lot to offer the world."

Arista smirks and gets up. "Right. The juvenile delinquent? Always solar surfing, getting in trouble." She holds her thumb and forefinger a bit apart. "This close to going to juvenile hall. You think he has more to offer the world? You feel—let me guess—connected to him?"

I sigh yet again. "I dunno, okay? Just let it alone."

Arista shakes her head. "Ariel, I can't believe this. In case you've forgotten how Atlantica works, here's the report. Every night, the group of sirens on duty go up and seduce a mortal man, bring them into the water, and drown them! Their souls belong to us, and that's what keeps our kingdom thriving. That's what keeps our waters pure. That's what keeps us going. We needed him! Our kingdom is dying away as is!"

I look at Attina, who looks horrified as if I'd killed someone. "You saved him?!" she hisses. "Ariel, you're going to hear from Daddy. And the Council. You're going to be blamed big-time. Out of all of us, you're the princess that has to be dilly-dallying about, rescuing mortals. We needed that boy!"

I get up off the bed and swish for the curtains. "I'd wish you'd care a little more and nag a little less, Attina!" I focus on Arista. "And you. I wish you'd show a little support and side with me. Not all the time. I'm asking for sometimes."

"Now see here, Ariel!" Attina swims for me, ready to grab my arm and give me yet another long lecture about not respecting your elders.

I jerk away. "I'm sure there's another mermaid, or mortal, for that matter, out there whose siblings or family just don't care about them!"

Arista's eyes shine. "Ariel, wait. Listen, we're not trying to hurt you. We're just—"

I roll my eyes. "Oh, save it, Arista!" I swim out, tailed by a shocked Attina. Arista stays in the doorway.

"Ariel!" exclaims Attina. "Listen to me!"

"NO!" I scream. "I AM SO SICK AND TIRED OF YOU TWO CRITICIZING ME ALL THE TIME!"

"Ariel—"

I soften my voice to a dangerous low. "Leave. Me. Alone."

Attina finally gets the hint. She stares at me for a few seconds, then turns and swims back down the hallway to the main atrium.

I tear out of the palace at top speed and out towards the boundaries of Atlantica.

Then I start to swim for the surface.

Where was the boy I had saved last night? Did he still remember my face?


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter Three_

_Jim_

I must've hit my head pretty hard.

One second I'm sitting on the beach and it's nighttime and I'm thinking about my past, and the next moment I feel I'm drowning under a boatload of water. I remember these ghostly ladies dragging me, kissing my face, then next second you know it, they're trying to drown me.

I think I was sort of dreaming, because none of this exists. But then, a girl saved me. One with red hair and blue eyes. And when I woke up the next morning, my mom was standing over me, her blue eyes stretched to the widest capacity I'd ever see them go.

I was lying on the beach, my jacket and pants wet and covered in damp sand.

"James Pleiades Hawkins!" she exclaims, throwing her arms up in the air. "What are you doing out here?"

I shake my head. I feel horrible, like I'd been run over. I'm groggy and feel like there are ocean waves splashing about inside my head.

"I dunno, Mom," I say slowly, feeling the side of my head for bumps. But there are none. Only a faint memory of last night.

My mom leans forward, now concerned. "Jim, honey? Are you okay? Do you have a..." she swallowed like she couldn't bear it. "Concussion? Did you hurt yourself last night?"

I felt the back of my head. My mind was wrapped around that girl. The girl with hair like a flame. Her eyes the color of the ocean and as bright as a star. And her voice. Absolutely amazing. She sang like a choir of angels.

"Jim?" Mom takes my arm and helps me up. Immediately I have to sit down again because I have no balance yet.

"Honey, I'm worried about you!" Mom says quietly. "I think I should call a doctor. I'll call Delbert; he'll know what to do!"

"Wait!" I call. "I'm okay! I can stand!"

I don't know if I can, but I don't want a doctor to come into this scenario. Doctors ask questions, and in this particular case, questions I can't answer.

"Well, okay, then," Mom says softly, helping me up. My stomach churns like I'm hanging upside down from a tree branch, but I make my way back to the front entrance without falling down like an injured drunkard.

My mom opens the door and I enter the kitchen. I reach for a tray of dirty dishes to wash them, feeling the familiar sickness in my stomach start up, but Mom pulls the tray away.

"Now that's quite enough, Jim!" she says. "Go to bed! I won't let you work. I think you had a rough time last night."

I heard her mutter as I made my way up to my bedroom. "I wonder what on earth's gotten into that boy. Did he go swimmimg? He's soaked!"

As if a lightbulb went off in her head, my mom runs to the bottom of the stairs. "Jim! Change into some dry clothes, sweetie!"

Yeah, right.

I glance out the window and notice a thick red cloud in the water, bobbing, floating, like blood. Wait?!

Is that...is that the girl?


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter Four_

_Ariel_

I push red hair out of my eyes and see the huge structure where the boy probably lives. I swim back to the beach, covered in plants, sand, and pebbles, where I rescued him and laid him down last night. I flop down against a rock and take a deep breath. I wonder if he's okay.

Then I think about Attina and Arista. And Daddy.

My father is a huge, formidable man. Big and muscly, with a blue shining tail that snapped every time he wanted to get our attention. Attina and Arista had learned to respect him, but as he said coldly, "You have yet to learn your place, Ariel, in this family."

Family? More like group of prisoners!

I had to make a plan. I wasn't going back to Atlantica. Ever. As far as I'm concerned, I don't even have a family anymore. All I have to do is...the plan is...

Where can I go?

Atlantica is the only home I have. It's the only shelter I have. I'll be eaten up if I try to survive alone in the Seven Seas by myself. I look at the sand and think of the legs.

The long legs, with toes and knees. The ones that humans walked on.

_Walking. _

_Dancing. _

_Twirling. _

_Kicking. _

_Spinning. _

_Living._

I wished for legs again. Maybe there was something I could do to become a human...

Hmmm. Now this had never occured to me. Now there was a whole new level of thinking and planning to do.

"Hey!" a voice interrupted my thoughts. I whirled, hair splashing onto my face, and I saw the boy, his gray-blue eyes going wider.

I gasp and dive into the ocean. But I look at him. He's there, craning his neck to get a glance of me.

I lift just my head above the surface, but my tail is like jelly and it gives out from under me. I collapse. In seconds, the boy is in the water.

"Are you okay?" he asks. I notice he's shivering as he sets foot in the water.

I nod quickly. But don't say anything. He looks nice today, I thought. Dressed in some warm, dry clothing. His braided ponytail swinging in the wind behind him.

He stretches out a hand. "Do you need help? Why are you in the water?"

I don't take the hand and reel back. The last thing I need is for Daddy to find out I've been in cahoots with a mortal. A mortal I had rescued yesterday. If Daddy suspects a relationship, I might as well throw myself off Needlepoint Spire into a grotto of pointed rocks.

I look at Jim. His eyes are honest, but radical. He's defenitely the adventurous type.

I sigh and then smile and then waggle my fingers like I've seen pretty human girls do. The boy waves back, too.

"So what's your name?" he asks, squatting down and picking up a handful of sand.

I don't want to tell him, but I do, which surprises me a lot. "Ariel."

The boy looks surprised as he pours the sand back onto the ground and wipes his fingers on his patched dark green pants.

"Ariel. Nice name," he comments as he stands.

I have to tell him something. I shoot forward into the shallower, paler waters. "Are you alright? Last night must have been horrible!"

I cannot believe I just said that.

I watch him to see if his face contorts. But it doesn't. He shoves his hands into the pockets of his jacket. "It was. But I barely remember anything." Then his mouth parts into a shy smile. "But I remember you. You saved me. From those...from those things."

Those things are my sisters, I think miserably. My sisters from the sea.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that," I tell him sincerely. "And I'm glad I could help. I can't just sit here and watch someone die."

Wow. I could talk very easily to this boy.

The boy finally thumps his hands against his pants. "I'm Jim, and thanks. For saving me, I mean. I didn't really know what happened, but I do remember you dragging me out of the water, keeping me from drowning. So thanks."

He looks a bit embarrassed, and his cheeks have gone slightly red, but I grin. "You're welcome!" I look at the sun. It's climbed a little higher into the sky. I have to find a new place to hang now.

"So, Jim," I say. "I must be off. I have something to do."

Jim raises his palm in a good bye gesture. "Later, then, Ariel."

He watches, like he expects me to come out of the water and walk home. But I bite my lip.

"Are you swimming?" he asks slowly. "You're always in the water."

I nod, lying. "Yes! Swimming! Diving underwater. Whaddaya call it?"

Jim casts me an odd look. "Scuba diving? But you're not geared up."

I smile. "I'm swimming. My...um..._boat_ is over there, past that tiny island."

Jim cranes his neck, but seems to see nothing. That's good, because the boat I made up is imaginary, and just want to get him off my scent. Jim just shrugs. "Okay. Keep swimming, then, watergirl. Later."

I wrap my arms around my chilled body and take off into the depths of the bluer messier waves in the deeper part of the sea.

I turn back and look, and Jim, his shoulders hunched against the brisk wind that's blowing, has already disappeared into the huge wooden structure on the beach.

It feels nice to call him by a name, and not just "the boy."

Jim.

I let the name play on my tongue.

_Jim..._


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter Five_

_Jim_

Being with Ariel gave me another zap of energy, so while my mom thought I was upstairs, sick from last night and sleeping, I slide out of the Inn and go find my solar surfer, parked inside the garage. I take it, revv it up, grab the black handle curving smoothly to the side and test the glowing orange button that pops up the bright red solar sail. It works, even after my last bumpy ride. I grin and hop on.

I pull the collar of my jacket up and ride into the wind, pretending I am one with the solar surfer.

When you ride one, the voyage is smooth, but it's a bit hard to steer. You need to be strong to push it this way and that, and sometimes if you pass under a cloud, the sails shrivel up and you'll fall to your doom. Solar surfing is one of the most dangerous pastimes a person can have.

That's why I love it.

As I spin through the sky, letting myself fall and rotate and shoot down to the ground like a flaming star, at the last minute I yank up the throttle and get that whoosh of ecstasy in the pit of my belly as the solar surfer glides it's way amidst mountains, the blue sky over us, the sun still beating down hard, it's rays making me sweat.

I let out a whoop as I soar neatly over a crest and my stomach flies into my mouth as I head the surfer almost directly downwards, allowing it to neatly skirt a jutting rock shaped like a thimble.

I think of all sorts of things. How I must return to the Interstellar Academy, to get graduated into my next course. After a day of graduation hustle and bustle, I'll return back to Montressor again. And then summer will begin.

And after the blazing unbearable heat of a Montressor summer? Back to my next course at ISA. And my life will go on and on and on.

I fly over a huge wheel that's turning around and around; I'm not in the mood to fly through the cogs today. I make sure I stay in view of the sun as I think.

I hope I'll finally get a mission. The ISA director, Captain Amelia, knows about my quirks and rough spots, but doesn't bring them up. She's always tight lipped when she hears about yet another one of my incidents, but she believes I have potential.

I think that, too. I just wonder why I can't unlock the door to the room where all my potential is hidden.

Maybe Amelia will find it in her heart to give me a mission this time. To leave Montressor and travel outside of this side of the galaxy. That's what my heart longs for.

Adventure.

I think I hear the wails of the police robots behind me. Uh-oh. I can't let myself get caught. Another pink slip and I'll be hauled off to the teen slammer for sure. I look up. A black cloud is moving menacingly towards the golden promise of the sun.

This is bad news. I slide down as the light from the sun begins to fade. The sails lose their shimmer and soon I'm plummeting to the ground. I slam down on a pedal with my foot, pulling the sails back in and disappearing into the old mills down below, managing to land somewhat well, my wrist taking the brunt of the fall.

But I'm okay. I look up and see the police cops flying forward, arching their necks to see a daredevil boy on a solar surfer.

But they won't find me. Because I'm down here.

I won't let myself go to juvenile hall.

I'm going to get a mission this time, I'm sure I will.


	6. Chapter 6

_Chapter Six_

_Ariel_

I let myself sink like a stone down to the bottom of the sea, where I laid there a long time and smiled up at the sunny shafts that broke down like shiny gold bars. I twist over onto my stomach and play with a shoal of tiny silver fish that seemed to have come right out of a garden of bright jewel colored coral.

If I had legs, I think, I would have a place to sleep at night. I was thinking of those caves down by the Gold Reef...

"Why do you need caves when you have me?!" came a voice.

My head snaps right up. "Who's there?" I call. I'm trying to sound brave, even though I am far away from my own home, but I can tell my voice is frightened because it goes up very small and very high-pitched.

"Oh, don't be afraid, darling," comes the voice again. "I know you're trying to sound brave, but you need not because I'm not going to hurt you."

"Where are you?" I try again. "Come out." Then I add: "Please? I want to see who you are."

"Oh, very well!" the voice resonates all around me like the vibrations when you pound a gong. I spin all around in a circle.

The voice continues to torment me. "Oh, sweet, spinning will do no good. It will only make you a ditz. But I'm here to help you."

I tilt my head back up to look at the surface, wanting desperately to know if Jim was there.

"No he's not," said the annoying female voice. "He's gone solar surfing. You need not look for him tomorrow; tomorrow is his academy graduation. He'll be gone from morning to night. But I can change that."

I'm drawn in now. "Change what?"

The voice chuckles with no emotion. "I've noticed that you've been watching and waiting for the boy a lot. You want to be closer to him? Become a human." The chuckles soften to what might be sincerity. "You're a lot like me, little mermaid. Waiting for your love to come." The chuckles become angry and then stop altogether. "But I never got mine."

I'm desperate now. "Where are you? Who are you?"

And then she comes out of the shadows. She's tall, very tall. And her skin has a bluish tint. Her eyes are sloped and yellow, with long eyelashes and long thin black eyebrows, and her pupils are a daring shade of bloodred. Her fingers were long and spidery and spindly, and she was slender, with a pretty smile. Her dress, a rich purple, barely covered her breasts and slides down all the way in a long train behind her, but then melts into the sand. And her hair. It's black and spiky, like the rays of a Doomsday sun, all around her like a halo.

She's a monster, but a beautiful one. And when you looked at her, you not only felt scared and intimidated, but also wanting to tell her everything, when you looked into the bloodred depths of her eyes.

She smiles. "I'm Eris. The goddess of chaos. And here I am, child. Now tell me your name."

I move a bit farther away, but suddenly she's behind me. I stammer out: "Ariel."

"The princess," Eris says softly. "Right. And you're a lot like me in other ways. You want to be different. You're adventurous. You want to explore the above world, am I right?"

I sigh. She's not wrong. "Yes."

Eris floats around me, soft like a wind, but menacing like a black cloud.

Eris nods. "Sweetie, I know everything about you. Your deepest wishes. Your heart's desire."

I turn my head to look at her, and Eris blinks back at me, her huge yellow and red cat eyes. Her eyelashes bat, thick and long, they stretch and expand. The beautiful, monstrous, frightening creature snakes away, almost into the darkness, just so I can see the shadows dance across her face.

"I can give you what you want," she says quietly. "I can. I have the power."

I swallow. My throat is still hoarse, though, when I speak. "You can give me legs?" It makes me shake when I say it.

Eris laughs again, a simple little giggle. She flicks her long fingers, and a throne appears. She gets into it and snaps. A martini glass appears between her fingers, filled with a strawberry pink liquid. She takes her time answering my question, nearly driving me mad with anticipation. She stirs the liquid with her finger and tastes it.

"Eeeew!" Eris spits, blinking rapidly. She snaps again, and the liquid becomes lime green. She smiles like she's a leopard about to eat a gazelle. She takes a dainty sip and smacks her lips. "Much better."

She looks at me. "And now for your question. Yes, I can. I can give you legs, and I can do more. I have great powers, Ariel, more than you will ever know."

"If—if you do give me l-legs," I was shivering openly now, too afraid to ask the outcome. "then what will I give you?"

Eris cackled, tilting her head back, letting her raven hair fan out behind her. "Great question, darling," she whispers throatily. "I like you. I'll tell you what. I will be generous and kind, which is very unlike me." Eris flicks at her nails, amused.

"Usually, when I grant my charges something they want, they must sell me their soul."

I reel back, truly terrified now.

Eris glances at me. "Relax, Ariel. I won't do that to you. You are a lot like me, so I'll spare you that unnecessary ritual. All I need is for you to get me something. Do you know about the Blue Light?"

I tilt my head. "No."

Eris sighs and draws it out into an "ughhh!" She glares. "I hate when my charges are so ignorant!" She flaps her hand. "Never mind. The Blue Light is a form that came down from the sky to The Lost Empire and took away the queen as the Ultimate Sacrifice. The queen had a crystal, that the Blue Light was attracted to. The Blue Light won't return again, I think, but the crystal is now worn by the princess. Get me the crystal. In exchange for legs."

I sit on the sand. "Where is the crystal?"

Eris is now irritated. "On the princess! In the Lost Empire! Atlantis, for heaven's sake! Get it for me. I'll give you your legs now. Go fetch it and bring it back to me."

I nod, now getting excited.

"In three days time."

I float towards her. "And if I don't, what happens?"

Eris snaps again, and her martini glass refills itself. "Well, nothing much. I get your soul, and the deal's off."

"And I become a mermaid again?"

Eris sticks her tongue into her cheek. "Yes, you do, you little smartmouth. Your soul is mine and you forever stay. With me." Eris grins evilly.

I look at her. "Forever is a really long time."

Eris rolls her eyes. "You'll have to live with it if you fail," she warns.

I sigh. I know I will have to. But I want to be a human more. So I nod. And agree.

"Um, hold on!" Eris holds up a bluish palm. "There's formalities, sweetheart. I'm not the type of goddess who just hands out a blessing like this without some kind of contract, okay?"

She holds up a golden scroll. I squint forward and read it.

_I, whoever I am, do pledge to sincerely bring back the crystal of Blue Light for Eris, the goddess of chaos. If I do not, in three days time, I agree that my soul will be sold to her, and I will be forced to be her prisoner until the end of time. This can only be overruled in one way, if Eris is completely destroyed. I must agree to each and every one of these terms if I am to get my heart's desire. _

SIGNED: _

I mull over the part about Eris being destroyed.

Eris clucks her tongue in disapproval, reading my mind. "Dearie, I wouldn't even think of defying me and then coming back down to destroy me. See, I have to include that bit. It's—" Eris makes a face. "—required." She looks icily at me. "Are you ready or not? If you are, sign. If you're not, go on and get out of here, princess. I don't accept cowards. I want people who are ready for an adventure."

Eris holds out the glowing pen, with a smirk on her face.

I want her to know that I'm an adventurer, and wish to know all about the above world, and I'll take her stupid challenge and ace it, and bring her back the crystal of Blue Light.

So, without any further ado, I take the glowing pen from a rather surprised Eris, and sign.

I look defiantly at her.

Eris claps. I'm surprised, too. She claps and nods. "I'm proud of you, Ariel," she says in a low purr. "I'm happy you chose this. Be a good girl and get the crystal, or be a bad girl and lose your life." Eris smiles sweetly. "Your choice, dearie."

And she blows me a kiss.

A green swirl sweeps towards me, touches my tail, and suddenly, I'm spinning, swimming for the surface as fast as I can. A tearing pain passes through my legs, ripping them apart.

I've never been terrified of death, but at this exact moment, touched by the goddess's magic, I am.


End file.
